sustain:if:able kiwi

communion, Grow with happy meals

Excellent kick off to Grow with a happy meal on Sunday nite. We are taking 3 weeks to explore the place of food in Christianity, with a particular focus on communion. With school holidays on, and with the theme being food, we are starting earlier (6:15 pm) and eating together. It was neat to have more kids with us, who seemed to connect well with the Grow congregation flavour – non-linear, multiple learning, style cafe congregation.

A highlight was the local Anglican vicar, who was asked to tell us about what communion means, and lead into fascinating contrast and compare discussion. Reminded me of this quote: “It has been said that heaven will be like having a Baptist sermon with Anglican liturgy; and hell will be like having an Anglican sermon with Baptist liturgy!”

Anyhow, for those who can’t imagine a non-linear, multiple learning, style cafe congregation, here is the run sheet for the evening….

Intro theme: Give us this day our daily bread; This is my body broken for you – So what is the place of food in Christianity?

Gathering: Write your name on the “grow” flower and stick your name in a loaf of bread, as a way of naming ourselves as present and engaged around our theme.

Video clip: How to cook a Kiwi pie.

Happy hamper: A giveway. An attractive red bag. Inside is flour, yeast, soup, dip mix and a bread recipe. A volunteer who will offer to take the happy hamper, make the meal and eat it with 4 others from Grow during the week.

Top 10 quiz time: guessing from a picture whether the “happy meals” are in Kuwiat v Australia: Fun, gets us thinking about food variety, gets table groups working.

Live interview: local Anglican vicar sharing about their church communion practices. Helps us think through the eyes of another.

Quotes: 14 year old perspectives on eating together from here.

Video clip: first 60 seconds from Ratatouille – the power of food to bring back memories

Biblical wisdom: If food has memories, what are the Old Testament happy meal memories? Table groups reflecting on Abraham in Genesis 18, Passover in Exodus 12, manna in Exodus 16, Elijah in dessert, Amos meal dreams.

Processing and integrating space: As we listened tonight, what, for God, is a “happy meal”? As we listened tonight, what “meal time habits” should humans have?

Happy meal prayer: Celtic prayer